Broken Armour
by Suki-Rose Essence
Summary: A reupload of a fanfiction I wrote at the age of 13. The infamous OC and epitome of the Sonic fandom, Flash Watts, meets Silver the Hedgehog, and the pair spend the next 10,000 words angsting. Involves chaos control on a lawnmower, Shadow being unnecessarily edgy, Mephiles manically laughing, and a nonsensical backstory that supposedly justifies the angst. You have been warned.
1. Girl Meets Hedgehog

CRASH!

"Oof!" Knuckles' face was mashed into the ground as Sonic fell on top of him again.

"Sorry Knu-ARGH!" Sonic was cut off as both Tails and Amy fell on top of him.

"This whole thing is seriously messed up," wheezed Knuckles, trying to get some kind of air into his lungs.

"If only the presences weren't so strong," said Tails, "I sure wish these kids would turn up."

"You said it," replied Amy, who was sat on top of all of them. "We have to figure out why their faces are coming into our heads-"

"THERE THEY ARE!" Sonic screamed, taking off like the X-Tornado. Sure enough, four kids were sitting on a park bench, talking.

It sucked, being the new kid,

Only yesterday, Flash had been introduced to her new class.

"Form 8 Aqua, I would like you to meet Flash Watts."

"Great name," sniggered one boy, called Craig. Two girls and another boy, who were called Gemma, Mollie and Tobias, all laughed.

Nobody laughed at Flash Watts. They had made an enemy.

She sat at the bus stop with nothing to do, considering the cigarettes she had discovered on the floor, that were now in her bag. In fact, she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the short guy with the funky hairdo and the bleached skin come and sit right next to her.

"You look like you've had a rough week," said the weird guy, startling Flash out of her thoughts.

"Go away," she muttered. The guy didn't go anywhere.

"My name is Silver," he said, like it was the answer to everything.

"I said-" Flash began.

"I don't care what you said!" said Silver, irritated.

Flash turned away, so that 'Silver' couldn't see the tears glistening behind her eyelids. Once she had regained her composure, she spoke, still not looking at him.

"Why are you here, anyway?"

"I came here."

"For what?"

"For you."

Flash looked at Silver properly. She looked him up. She looked him down. And then she swore loudly.

"I could say that about you too," Silver muttered.

"Explain yourself," said Flash. "You ain't human. Why are you here, and what do you want me for?"

"Well… Get down! They're coming!"

"Who's coming?"

But then Flash saw.

Mollie blinked. She couldn't quite believe that a blue hedgehog, a yellow fox, a red echidna and a pink hedgehog had come to stand before her and her three best friends: Craig, Tobias and Gemma.

"What did you say your names were again?" she asked.

"I'm Sonic," said the hedgehog, "that's Miles Prower but we call him Tails." The yellow fox blushed. "The red guy is Knuckles." Knuckles flex his muscles. "And last but not least, Amy Rose!" The pink hedgehog grinned and batted her eyelashes.

"So what's the story?" said Craig, "I mean it's not every day that some weird creatures appear in front of you."

"Well," said Tails, "we were taking a ride through the solar system, when we felt these presences."

"That's you guys," added Amy.

"So we landed on Earth and followed the trail of your presences. It was a bit like following a path – that's how strong it was," said Sonic.

"And then we found you!" said Tails.

They walked through the park, talking about themselves.

"And then there's-oh no," said Sonic, suddenly turning pale.

"What?" asked Tails.

"I just remembered. About Silver."

Knuckles' face turned grave.

They didn't notice a flash of dark white dart behind the bus stop across the road.

Mollie, Gemma, Craig and Tobias, followed by a blue hedgehog, a yellow fox, a red echidna and a pink hedgehog were walking along, all talking.

Flash turned to Silver. "Those four kids are total idiots. Trust me."

"I could say the same thing about those four creatures," said Silver, "their names are-"

"-Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy," said Flash abruptly.

"How did you know?" asked Silver.

"I dunno. Just popped into my head," Flash replied.

Silver's eyes widened. "You really _are_ my partner."

"What?"

"ESP… You got it!"

"Partner… ESP… You're making no sense!"

"All this sign I sensed a presence. I followed it to a bus stop were there was a lonely teenager. When we feel a presence that strong it is that we've found our partner."

"Me?" Flash's voice shot p about three octaves.

"You lost your mother," Silver suddenly said, "so you went to live with your father. But at the same time you lost your older sister. It hurt-"

"Shut up!" Flash hissed. She tried to turn away but it was too late. Silver had seen the tears.

"I lost Blaze," he whispered.

Flash was surprised to see that there were tears in his eyes now too. "I… I loved her."

"W-We can work together," aid Flash, "Me and you. To get through the pain. Partners."

"Partners." 


	2. It Sure Beats Coffee!

Silver and Flash were curled up at opposite ends of the sofa, fast asleep. That was, until the doorbell rang.

"Flash! It's Mollie!" said Flash's Dad. Quietly, Flash got up off the sofa, hoping that Mollie wasn't going to be too long. Silver didn't stir. It had been a hard day.

Flash stumbled downstairs and to the door. O her surprise, not only was Mollie standing there, but Tails too.

"You haven't seen Tails," she said to herself. Only people picked as partners could see Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Silver.

"Hi Mollie," said Flash, "what's up?"

"Not much. Hey, I was wondering if you'd try some of this new energy drink me and T… Tobias made."

"T… Tobias? More like Tails!" Flash wanted to say.

"Sure!" she said instead, laughing inside. It was weirdly coloured, but couldn't hurt. Mollie was about to give her one of the bottles, when suddenly she and Tails were knocked flying. Flash blinked in surprise and then saw that Silver was standing in front of her.

"Truth potion. Oldest trick in the book," he muttered. Then he turned to Flash. "C'mon. Before the reinforcements turn up."

"Dad! Going out with Mollie!" Flash yelled over her shoulder, and then took off with Silver. However, trouble was waiting at the end of the road. Rouble in the form of Gemma and Amy.

"Hello Flash," grinned Gemma, sugar sweet but staring at Silver.

"Hey Gemma. And Amy," said Silver. His ESP confused them long enough for the escapees to get round the corner.

"Two pairs down. Two to go," said Flash.

"The hardest two to go," replied Silver.

They ran. Every so often they changed direction. Down pretty little side streets, along a main road with heavy traffic. Finally they stopped in a dark alleyway, pausing for breath.

"D'you… think they'll find us?" Flash panted.

"Might… do," replied Silver.

"Already have." A voice echoed down. Craig and Knuckles were at one end of the alley. Tobias and Sonic at the other.

"We were right," said Tobias, "It _was_ Flash."

"What is this? Cluedo?" Flash smirked.

"There's no way out," said Knuckles, "join us, and we can be a team."

"There's one way out," replied Silver.

"Up," said Flash, reading his mind.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

The pair shot into the air faster than the speed of light. Leaving the four behind.

"Sonic can follow us," said Silver, "but not Knuckles."

"The hardest pair is left," said Flash.

"We'll beat them. We can do anything."

The pair had travelled by chaos control that morning, to orbit the Earth. Then, it had been magical. Now it was a desperate chase.

"SILVER! FLASH!" Sonic's voice was projected. Silver and Flash turned to face the enemy.

"Please. Let's just talk," said Tobias.

"Too bad your little closing in method didn't work," spat Flash.

"We only want peace," said Sonic.

"That's all you ever want, Sonic!" Silver yelled. "That's not how we work! Peace is when you die, like… like…"

"Blaze would only want-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" They both yelled.

"I know exactly what Silver's been through," Flash whispered. "You're just making it worse."

They were hovering above Earth's surface now. A wall of green energy shot from Silver's hands. Sonic dodged.

"Sonic boom!" Tobias yelled. It headed for Silver, who deflected it. Flash conjured up a ball of green energy and fired it at Tobias. His reflexes weren't as good as Sonic's and it caught him in the chest and expanded, like a giant bubble.

"Tobias!" Sonic fired a sonic boom at the two then went to help his friend.

"Go!" whispered Silver. The pair flew off, back to Earth.

But it wasn't over yet.

In a rage, Sonic lobbed a chaos emerald at Flash. It hit her in the back, and she flipped in the air.

"FLASH!" screamed Silver. Her eyes rolled into her head and she shot to the ground. "NO!" He yelled.

With a groan, she landed back in the alleyway. Knuckles and Craig were nowhere to be seen.

"Flash!" Silver shook her. "Speak to me!"

All of a sudden there was a blinding flash of green, and Flash sat up.

"Thank the chaos emeralds," Silver sighed in relief.

"What happened?" asked Flash.

"Sonic fired a chaos emerald at you," growled Silver, helping Flash to her feet.

"I wonder where it went-oh!" Flash staggered suddenly.

"You okay?" Silver asked, concerned.

"Yeah… think so." There was another flash of green.

"Hang on. Flash, weren't your eyes grey?"

"What?"

"Now they're green. E-Emerald green."

Flash's eyes suddenly began to glow. The sky lit up with emerald colour. Silver gasped.

"You've absorbed a chaos emerald!"

"Well it sure beats coffee!" grinned Flash.

"But… you shouldn't be alive! You're only human."

"Only human and your partner!"

Silver looked at her in awe.

"Now, I think we should go home," said Flash. "I feel like I've used up a lot of energy today. _Chaos_ energy!"


	3. The Thunder

All eight of them sat slouched on the two sofas in Gemma's living room, defeated.

"Well, that worked," sighed Tobias. Knuckles folded his arms in perfect synchronisation with Craig.

"I was certain that our plan would work!" exclaimed Tails. Mollie was sitting next to him. Scribbling away in her notebook. She only stopped to push her glasses up her nose.

"What're you writing?" Tails leant over to read her barely legible writing. His eyes crept across the page.

"What does it say?" asked Sonic.

"We couldn't get Flash to take the truth serum," said Mollie, "so why not convince her to tell the truth by being friends with her? We have to figure out her powers and what she and Silver are doing."

"Great idea, Mollie!" exclaimed Amy.

"We should get going," said Craig, stretching. "We have school tomorrow."

Mollie, Tails, Craig, Knuckles, Sonic and Tobias all trooped out of the door with new hope in their hearts.

It only seemed like Flash had been asleep for a couple of seconds when something woke her up. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep (absorbing a chaos emerald had been hard work) when she realised that Silver was not crouched in the normal corner of her bunkbed.

 _'_ _Light,'_ Flash thought, _'I need light.'_

All of a sudden, as if answering her thoughts, a scalding heat built up in her left hand. She opened it and saw the green chaos emerald hovering above her palm. It gave a dim glow, just so Flash could see around the room.

BOOM!

Thunder crashed loud overhead. Flash finally found Silver, standing by the window. As lightly as a cat, she leapt down from the bunk to stand beside Silver. She had torn the ladder from the bunkbed after her Mum had died. Now to get up, one had to use the frame as foot and handholds. The lightning flashed as quickly as strobe lighting. Flash counted three seconds and then came a massive thud right overhead.

"Loud storm," said Flash, seeing the worry on Silver's face.

"That's not thunder," he replied. Panic shot up into Flash's throat, flames caressing the back of her throat.

"Then… then what is it?" her voice trembled.

Silver lifted the edge of the curtain. There, with lights flashing in a terrifying beauty, was a giant spaceship.

"A-aliens?"

"Doctor Eggman."

Sure enough, the hatch door slid open and out stepped a large but chubby man who was almost completely bald, apart from the big, bristly, orange moustache.

"Stay here," whispered Silver, and jumped through the window. Flash wanted to obey Silver, but also wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened. Reading her thoughts, Silver turned and said, "I know Eggman. He's a pushover."

Not wanting to disobey her friend, Flash stayed where she was.

"Gemma! Wake up!"

Amy roused her partner, who groaned and rolled over. Sighing, she whispered in Gemma's ear. "50% off all clothes at the mall!"

"WHERE?!" exclaimed Gemma.

"Now you're awake," said Amy briskly "Doctor Eggman has landed two streets away and we're going to investigate. Hurry!"

"Who's Doctor Eggman?" muttered Gemma, annoyed that there wasn't a real clothes sale.

"There'll be time for explaining later. We're meeting Sonic, Toby, Knuckles, Craig, Tails and Mollie at Berry Street corner, where we went to capture Flash and Silver."

Fearfully, Gemma said, "D'you think Silver and Flash are okay?"

"I don't know. I _really_ don't know."

Every step made Silver more and more nervous. He had to protect his partner. Losing somebody else would tear him to pieces.

"Eggman!" he called. The Doctor turned at the sound of his voice.

"Why, young Silver!" he grinned evilly, "what brings you to Earth?"

"None of your business," said Silver. A black blur shot out of the ship and into the darkness, but Silver ignored it. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm looking for a girl who absorbed a chaos emerald," said Eggman casually, tweaking his moustache. "You wouldn't happen to know who and where she is, would you?"

Silver's throat constricted. "Nope," he said, "no clue."

"Oh really?" said Eggman. All of a sudden, he fired a gun at the window.

Flash dived out of the way as the first few bullets hit the glass, ricocheting off the walls. She heard Silver scream, "Noooo!"

 _'_ _I'm still alive!'_ she said in her mind, _'Get that damn gun off him!'_

Sprinting out of her room, she threw herself into the unlocked back door and out into the garden. Silver had wrestled the gun off Eggman now. As Silver saw her, he ran in front of her to defend.

"Just try," Silver threatened Eggman.

"Fine." Eggman took out another gun and pointed it at Silver.

"Nooo!" Flash yelled. The emerald glowed with energy and then a forcefield stronger than a thousand charging elephants knocked Eggman and his spaceship back. The gun flew out of the doctors hands and he lay slumped against the ship.

"How'd you do that?" Silver stared in wonder at Flash, who shrugged.

"Search me," she said, "must've been the chaos emerald!"

"Which, if you don't hand over, will cost you your life," said somebody. The pair turned and saw a black and red hedgehog holding Eggman's gun. He was pointing it directly at Flash.

"Shadow," said Silver quietly, "put the gun down."

"Give me the chaos emerald!" demanded 'Shadow'.

"We can't," replied Silver, "she's absorbed it."  
"Then I'll tear her limb from limb until I find it." Shadow's voice was calm, but it chilled Flash to the bone.

"Please Shadow," whispered Silver, "You don't have to do it. I came here because I felt a presence. You must feel one too."

Shadow's hand trembled, but he pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The noise startled Tails out his skin.

"What was that?" he wondered aloud.

"The sound of a gun," said Knuckles grimly.

It came from Flash's house.

Flash was still alive. Silver was unharmed.

Shadow dropped the gun as the bullet raced into the heavens above, and took off.

"That was too close," whispered Flash. Silver dropped to his knees, and his partner felt the relief flooding through him. What touched her the most, however, was the panic and love Silver had felt for her when Shadow was threatening to kill her.

Somebody actually cared she was alive.

Flash sat down besides Silver, who was almost gasping for breath.

"You okay?" she said.

"Yep," Silver puffed, "Fine." Almost to prove his point, he shouted, "Chaos control!" The doctor and the spaceship disappeared.

"C'mon," said Silver, "we should go."

Just then, there was a rustle in the bushes. Terrified that it was Shadow, Flash cowered away.

"WE'RE COMING!" Sonic fell out of the bush, followed by Toby, Craig, Mollie, Gemma, Knuckles, Tails and Amy.

"Hey!" exclaimed Knuckles, "where's Eggman?"

"Eggman?" Flash sniggered, "What are you talking about?"

"Just look who's been sleepwalking," smirked Silver.

Silence.

"So you dragged us all out of bed just so we could feel out of a bush? For nothing?" Amy rounded on Sonic. All at once, they had taken off into the distance, chasing Sonic. Just Silver and Flash were left.

"Well," said Flash, "that was uneventful."

"You said it," agreed Silver.

"Did you hear the storm, Dad?" said Flash the next morning.

"I sure did," replied Flash's Dad, "it was all so loud!"

"I know!" said Flash, turning to pack her school bag.

"But do you know what was funny?"

Flash froze. "What?"

"I swear some of the lightning flashes were green. And I had a dream about people yelling 'Chaos control!' too!"


	4. You Can't Chaos Control a Lawnmower

"Taylor Sawdean?"

"Present!"

"Jerry Tamworth?"

"Here!"

"Flash Watts?"

Silence.

"Flash Watts? Are you here?" he teacher barked. The whole class swivelled round to look at the desk in the corner, where a small girl was asleep. Jerry Tamworth, who was sitting next to her, whacked her table with a ruler.

"You can't have the-oh. Sorry Miss," Flash woke with a start, greening sheepishly. Miss Flatworth gave Flash a stern look, closing the register with a SNAP.

"Right, ten minutes until the bell goes. You can all talk until then. Miss Watts, TALK, not SLEEP!"

Ignoring the teacher, Flash put her head on the desk and thought about Silver. After spending ten minutes that morning reassuring her partner that she would be fine at school without him, he had sat miserably in front of the TV with a whole bumper pack of pretzels. After nearly being shot twice last night, first by a fat, bald doctor and then a miserable hedgehog, Flash couldn't blame Silver for being paranoid.

Miserable hedgehog. That was one word for Shadow.

He had haunted her dreams, tiptoeing through the darkness, a wild but empty look in his eyes as he pulled the trigger. She had been dreaming about him just before her rude awakening.

Jerry Tamworth turned to her and said, "Loser." Flash threw him an awful look, but then smirked, thinking of Eggman's graceful swoop into the side of the spaceship.

"Tryin' to be a big, brave girl and ignore me?" jeered Jerry, "Think you're better than us, don't you?"

"Oi!" a voice behind Jerry said, "Leave Flash alone."

Craig towered over Jerry, arms folded. He was taller and stockier than anyone else in the year. Flash would have been terrified, even if Knuckles hadn't been standing next to him. Jerry gave Flash an 'I'll get you later' look, and then walked off.

"Just try," said Flash, "you'll be sorry." Then she turned to Craig. "I can fight my own battles, thanks."

"Just helpin' you out," shrugged Craig, "come and sit with us." Flash didn't even have time to object; Craig pulled her by the sleeve over the Mollie, Toby and Gemma.

"Flash! Mollie's voice sounded so sugary sweet that Flash could have been sick. "You look great today!"

Flash almost laughed out loud. She wanted to contradict Mollie so badly, but Silver and she had fooled the eight fools into believing that Eggman hadn't landed in Flash's garden last night. After tossing and turning or hours, plagued by nightmares, Flash had only got two hours' sleep.

"So what do you have next?" asked Gemma.

"Science with Mrs. Knightbridge," said Flash.

"OMG SAME!" Gemma frightened Flash out of her skin.

"Okay, okay!" she said, backing away from Gemma slightly. Unfortunately the bell rung.

"Come on, then!" Gemma said to Flash, and dragged her off to science.

Flash didn't get a moment's peace. After Science with Gemma, she had English with Mollie and Craig, and then Drama with Toby and Craig. Only Knuckles had come in that day, and spent the whole time staring at Flash like she was a bomb. Just when she thought she could sneak off at lunchtime, the hysterical Gemma returned. They sat on the grass watching some year 7 boys play football.

"So Flash, how's Silver?" asked Tobias.

Flash opened her mind, transmitting the conversation to Silver.

"Uh… exactly the same as he was yesterday," said Flash.

"What were you guys doing out there in the garden last night?" said Mollie, "I mean, 2am and out there? What happened?"

"I should say the same to _you,"_ Flash retorted, "What were you doing in MY garden at 2am?"

"We heard a gun being fired. Also, we got word that Eggman had landed on Earth. Know anything?" answered Knuckles smoothly.

Flash kicked back casually against a tree.

"Gonna answer?" said Craig.

"I'm just waiting."

"For what?"

Toby stood up. "Oh no. No you don't. Not again."

Flash shrugged. "You followed. Sonic gave me the chaos emerald." She opened her hand, and there it was. The five of them gasped.

"Give it back!" Toby made a grab for it, but it disappeared. "It's Sonic's!"

"Tough luck," replied Flash.

"Guys!" yelled Mollie, "here comes the cavalry."

Indeed, the cavalry was coming. Silver, riding a lawnmower, sped towards them. It would have been funny if he hadn't meant to run anyone over. Flash hitched a ride on the engine where silver sat on the seat and steered.

"SILVER!" yelled Flash, "WHY ON EARTH ARE WE ON A LAWNMOWER DRIVING AT 20MPH?"  
"IT WAS THE ONLY AVAIALBLE TRANSPORT I COULD USE CHAOS CONTROL ON!" replied Silver.

To other people, it looked like Flash was stuck on an out-of-control lawnmower that was inconveniently chasing Tobias, Mollie, Craig and Gemma. All of a sudden, Sonic, Tails and Amy appeared.

 _'_ _Oh great,'_ Silver's voice wafted into Flash's head, _'here come the cavalry.'_

Tails whipped up a large whirlwind which threw Mollie out of the way. Sonic grabbed Toby's arm and sped up the side of a tree, where Toby could take refuge on a branch. Knuckles chucked Craig up onto Toy's tree branch. Gemma went to join them.

"If you're playing it that way…" Silver flicked his hand and Flash shot into the air too. All the breath was knocked out of her body.

"Silv-" Flash's mouth locked; Silver was always one step ahead of her. No begging.

In moments, the battle had begun. Silver leapt off the lawnmower, which careered into the fence that ran around the perimeter of the school grounds. Silver sent them all flying to the ground. Sonic and Knuckles were the first to recover, Sonic sending a sonic boom. Silver dodged easily and sent Knuckles spinning through the air. He careered into the tree, where Craig, Toby and Gemma were situated.

"Knuckles!" Craig slid down the trunk to tend to his injured friend. The echidna had looked so big and strong. It proved just how strong Silver was. And if Flash was his partner… Mollie shivered. They had been picked because of how similar they were to their partners. What did this say about Flash? Something told Mollie that Craig shouldn't have made that joke about her name. She glanced over at Flash, and saw that she was fighting with the air, trying to get down to help her friend. Not only was she strong, but she was loyal to the ones that she cared about. All of a sudden, she felt a pang in her chest and saw that Tails was being whisked round and around in the air. She aimed a whirlwind at Silver, who was blown sideways. All of a sudden, a huge blow of energy struck her straight in the stomach.

"Hey!" Tails yelled at Flash, "Watch it!" This was the distraction Silver had been waiting for. Tails also joined Knuckles at the bottom of the tree. Rubbing the place where Flash's energy had hit hardest, Mollie went to see to Tails.

Flash struggled to get down. She could feel Silver getting weaker. She wanted to send him a mind message, but he had closed off his mind. All she could do was hope and pray. Amy lunched at him, but he was ready. A quick punch to the face sent her sprawling in the mud. Gemma ran to Amy and took her safely to the tree. Now it was just Sonic and Silver.

Attack… Defend… The battle went on. The pair were wounded and weak, but neither would give up. Their moves began to get slower, weaker. All that Flash and Toby could do was watch and wait. As their partners ran out of energy, so did them.

And then it happened.

Pupils screamed and ran as several explosions went off at the same time. Flash dropped to the ground and stood beside Silver. Toby and Sonic joined them. Mollie helped Tails to his feet, and Gemma and Craig revived their two partners. They stood in a long line, ready to face this new enemy.

All of a sudden, the sky went dark, and there were no stars. All sounds were muted, and a wave of fear and grief passed through the land. Flash could hardly breathe in the darkness.

 _'_ _Thin positive,'_ said Silver in her mind.

With all of her strength, Flash brought up her hand to unleash the chaos emerald. It lay lifeless in her hand.

 _'_ _There's no energy in the chaos emerald!'_ she thought.

But then, before Silver could reply, a dark, booming voice echoed out of nowhere.

"Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Silver," Silver shivered as the creature spoke his name, "and their partners. You stand divided. You have what I need, and most importantly, what I want. Give me the chaos emeralds, and light shall return to the world. Fail to do so, and I will crush you all."

"We have to do it," whispered Sonic. The power to speak had been returned at least. He threw two chaos emeralds into the air, and they glowed brightly. Silver did likewise. At first they were dull, without light, but began to glow as he threw them.

"That's four," Silver spoke to the creature, "but Shadow has two of them."

All of a sudden, two more chaos emeralds flew over to join the four that hung in midair.

"Partner of Silver. You have absorbed the chaos emerald," said the creature, "therefore if I cannot take the chaos emerald by itself, I will take you too."

Before Flash could refuse, before her brain could even register what was going on, she found herself flying through the air, all the breath knocked out of her body.

"No!" she heard Silver scream. The whispers of his powers, trying to bring her back, touched her hands and feet, but they were whisked away. Flash fought against the cold breeze that pulled her away from Silver.

 _'_ _Silver?'_ she thought.

Silence.

 _'_ _SILVER!'_ she screamed in her mind.

Nothing.

The wind wrapped around her, taunting, jeering. Despair swallowed her up, and she found herself hurtling into the darkness….


	5. The Dark

It was a team effort to get Silver away from that certain spot. At first, when Sonic tried to reason with him, he yelled and screamed. Finally, they all took one part of him and carried him away.

"We have to find light!" said Tails.

"There's only one thing for it: fire," replied Mollie, "Let's hope whoever it is who took Flash hasn't taken away the power of fire."

Tails let go of Silver's arm and hunted along the ground for some wood. Grass… Mud… Sticks! Quickly Tails collected as many as he could.

"I've got wood!" Tails declared triumphantly.

"Well done Tails," said Sonic, restraining Silver's legs alongside Tobias.

"I can't hear!" Silver suddenly said, "Why?"

"Silver, it's us," said Amy, "what can't you hear?"

"FLASH!" Silver cried, "She's gone!"  
"Well yes, but-"

"In my mind, you idiot!" snapped Silver.

Amy felt hurt. "What do you mean?"

"We could communicate telepathically. And now she's not responding. Y-You don't think…" Silver trailed off. The silence echoed on.

"Lets' try making fire here," said Craig.

Slowly, all nine of them crouched down. Mollie and Tails sawed at the sticks, rubbing them together. The minutes ticked by as everyone waited with baited breath.

And then there was a spark.

Flash awoke with a start. She thought for a few seconds that she was blind, but then she remembered the darkness.

 _'_ _Silver?'_ She tried again.

Nothing.

 _'_ _Don't cry,'_ she said to herself, _'whatever happens, don't show weakness.'_

What was she lying on? It was hard to tell. It was hard and smooth and cold, but wasn't marble. She felt around her, but empty space yawned in all directions.

Where should she go? She began to crawl in one direction, but then stopped. The exit could be a few feet away in the other direction. Perhaps she ought to stay where she was for now.

 _'_ _Silver will come,'_ she thought to herself, _'He will. I know he will.'_

The flames were roaring, and finally they could all see each other. The whites of Silver's eyes were bloodshot, and he was staring into space, hunched up in front of the fire. The others stared at him nervously.

"We'll find her," said Sonic. Silver looked up, his eyes blazing.

"And how do you plan to do that?" he snapped.

"By working together," said a voice. The nine of them turned around and saw Shadow and a bat.

"Who're you?" asked Toby nervously, who had never seen Shadow before.

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog. This is Rouge," said Shadow, pointing to the bat. "The whole world is in darkness. It will only return to light again when Mephiles has all of the chaos emeralds in his hands."

"That means he hasn't got the chaos emerald from Flash yet!" exclaimed Tails.

"Don't get excited," replied Silver, "Certain people would tear others _limb from limb_ to get to the chaos emerald." Silver shot Shadow a piercing look.

"Enough of the past. We need to work together to get to Flash. I'm guessing that Mephiles has taken her to an alternate dimension," Shadow said.

"Poor Flash," whispered Mollie, "She must be so scared."

"We can't think of that now," said Rouge dismissively.

"How will we get there?" asked Sonic, "We need at least one chaos emerald to induce chaos control."

"If we all focus our energy, we might be able to get some kind of vortex going," replied Shadow smoothly.

"It's worth a shot," said Knuckles, "C'mon! Let's go!"

Flash couldn't breathe. The darkness was crushing her. She was so frightened.

"Silver," she whimpered.

And then she saw light.

They all stood in a ring around the fire, holding hands.

"Focus," said Shadow, "Focus on Flash."

Toby thought of the way she had created the magical bubble and thrown it at him. The way he had seen the whole world light up with green energy as her spirit adjusted to the chaos emerald.

And then a flash of purple light blinded them all.

The pinprick of purple light wavered, and then started to get bigger. Pinprick to hole punch size. Hole punch size to ping pong ball size. Ping pong ball to basketball. And then the shape of another chaos emerald became clearly defined. The light gave Flash enough energy to sit up.

"H-hello?" she whispered.

The light shone on the person that was holding it, and Flash nearly screamed.

"Shadow! She cried, "What are you doing?"

"I am not Shadow," said the hedgehog, "My name is Mephiles."


	6. Green is the Colour of Hope

**WARNING: Moderate blood, gore and violence for this chapter because Mephiles is a little shit**

It was the third time of trying to create the vortex when Silver collapsed.

"Silver! You okay?" Tobias sounded concerned.

"I heard her scream," Silver shivered. Suddenly his voice changed.

"Giving me the chaos emerald is the only way." His voice brought fear to everyone.

"Mephiles," Shadow whispered.

"Who?" asked Gemma.

"Mephiles the dark is quite possibly the coldest and most murderous person to have existed."

"Murderous-" began Mollie, but then Silver yelled.

 _"_ _No!"_

"Giving me the chaos emerald is the only way," growled Mephiles. He grabbed Flash's hand and touched the middle of it. The feeling was like an icy shiver all over her body, like all of the warmth was being sucked out of her. Then, the chaos emerald emerged. Flash couldn't speak, she was too cold. Mephiles grabbed the chaos emerald and it was like an icy dagger was being plunged into her heart. She groaned.

"Hm… it's stuck." Mephiles cracked a smile by the glow of the purple chaos emerald. "I think some force will be required."

And then he pulled. Flash screamed. It felt as if her soul was being ripped out. Mephiles laughed, a deep piercing laugh, but pulled harder. In fact, he pulled so hard that his whole body shook with the effort.

There were no words for Flash's pain. It was like her insides were burning with icy fire, and right in the centre, something pulled.

"Let go! You fool!" Mephiles yelled. With one lazy flick of his hand, a slit appeared on Flash's arm, pouring crimson. Flash couldn't feel the pain. She didn't know how to let go. Another slit appeared in her other arm, a pool of crimson then appearing on both hands. Mephiles slashed her neck, her cheek, and then aimed for her heart.

Silver was violently trembling.

"Silver, what do you see?" urged Sonic. Silver's face in the light chilled them all to the bone, even Shadow. It was full of revulsion, fear and anger. All of a sudden, he stood up.

"We have to try and make the vortex again," said Silver. Reluctantly, the others all joined hands. They focused, but no one did so like Silver. Waves of green light emitted from him. The sky flashed with purple, again and again. Gemma and Amy fell to the floor out of exhaustion. Next, Tails fell, shortly followed by Mollie. Tobias began to waver, but it was Rouge and Knuckles that both followed Mollie. Craig managed to continue for another minute, but then fell at the same time as Tobias. It was just Sonic, Shadow and Silver left. The flashes of purple got closer and closer together, almost as if they were strobe lighting.

And then the vortex appeared.

The three broke apart. "Go Silver," said Sonic, "Now!"

"Save her," said Shadow, "you know you can."

Taking one last look at his comrades, Silver ran and jumped into the portal, willing it to take him to Flash.

 _'_ _Flash?'_

Flash gasped.

 _'_ _Flash, are you there?'_

 _'_ _Dammit Silver. I thought I'd never hear you again!'_

Relief made Flash feel dizzy. Or maybe it was because of the blood that she'd lost. A flash of green blinded her for a moment. Mephiles looked up, his bloodthirsty eyes angry.

"Silver," he growled. He turned to Flash. "Don't look so excited," he said, "he is easily dealt with."

"You can't," Flash's eyes blazed.

"Why not?"

"Because to me, green is the colour of hope."

Although it was dark, Silver could hear Flash's weakened thoughts. She sounded exhausted.

 _'_ _Mephiles is coming. Be strong.'_

Sure enough, there was a flash of purple, and the evil guy appeared.

"Mephiles!" spat Silver, "You will pay for your actions!"

"No, you will," hissed Mephiles, "Your partner lies dying in the darkest corner of this world. Even if you defeat me, you will never find her."

Despair surrounded Silver.

 _'_ _It's not true. I can still see… your light… the light...'_

 _'_ _Stay with me, Flash. Please. You can do it.'_

 _'_ _I-I will.'_

The battle began, and all Flash could do was try to stay alive. The attack on her heart never connected. The chaos emerald had thrown Mephiles back into the darkness.

 _'_ _Flash?'_

 _'_ _Still here.'_

Silver was fighting with everything he had, but Mephiles was blocking every move. Finally, one move connected and he flew through the air.

 _'_ _You can do it Silver. I know you can.'_

Flash's stomach churned. She hoped and prayed.

Praying for Silver to win.

Shadow and Sonic watched the sky, which was flashing with purple and green light.

"D'you think Silver will win?" asked Sonic. Shadow shrugged.

"Either way, light will be restored," he said. "If Silver loses, Mephiles will continue to pull the emerald out of Flash until her heart stops beating. The emerald will give itself up. If he wins, Silver will be able to take all of the chaos emeralds from Mephiles and bring Flash back to Earth. Mephiles will be sealed in that alternate dimension for a long time, if it's Silver that seals him. Once we have the chaos emeralds, and Mephiles is trapped, we can restore light and energy to the world."

"But Flash might not survive if Silver wins."

"Either way, I'd expect that you're looking at certain death for her."

"Why is it so… so cold?" Flash shivered, curled up on the floor. Blood ran down her face – or was it tears? How long had she been lying there in the darkness? The battle raged on, flashes of green and purple dancing I the air. Then, there was an almighty flash of purple, and everything went dark. Flash didn't have the energy to message Silver. All she could do, was watch and wait. Then a pinprick of purple appeared again.

"No… No…" Flash whispered, then screamed, "SILVER!"

The light got brighter and brighter. But then, suddenly there was another light, and another. Flash counted six of them, all different colours. Red, dark blue, light blue, white, yellow, and of course, purple. What was going on? They got brighter and brighter until they were right in front of her.

"Flash." It was Silver that spoke. Flash swore loudly.

"I thought you had been killed," she whispered.

"You _look_ like you've been killed," replied Silver, staring at the slits on her arms, hands, face and neck. "We need to get going."

Slowly Flash forced her legs to move, and she stood, shaking. Everything hurt, but not quite so badly anymore.

Slowly the chaos emeralds danced around them, and there was a blinding flash, and then, lots of screaming,

"FLASH!" Gemma yelled.

Flash stared at the smiling faces of Mollie, Tobias, Gemma, Craig, Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles. Then she saw Shadow and collapsed.

It felt like Flash had been asleep forever when she finally woke up. At first, she wondered if it all been a horrible dream, but then she saw the bandages crisscrossing up her arms and around her hands. She looked around and saw that she was back in her room. Silver was sitting at the end of the bed in his usual positon, watching her warily.

"I'm not dead yet," said Flash, not daring to smile in case it hurt.

"It's a good job that Tails and Mollie know first aid. You were in a pretty bad way." Silver looked relieved.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"48 hours."

"Woah. What… what happened while I was gone?"

"We made a camp on the edge of the school and managed to make a fire. Then we all tried to make a vortex to take us to where you were. It was our fourth attempt when we finally got there. SO I went through and came face to face with Mephiles. The battle was fierce, and he seemed to block all of my attacks. I thought I was going to lose so many times, and I was worried that you were… gone, just like Blaze. All of a sudden, Mephiles fell, scattering the chaos emeralds everywhere. I picked them all up, but then I heard you call my name. All I needed to do was to follow the voice and I found you. You weren't answering me in your mind, so I thought you hadn't made it. But, in the end, you were okay. What's your story?"

Flash told him everything. About waking up in the dark, to meeting Mephiles, his torturing session (in which Silver went pale) and the battle.

"Then I could only see the purple chaos emerald, so I thought that Mephiles had own. But then I saw all of the other emeralds and KABOOM! There you were. Hey-" Flash suddenly remembered something, "What does my Dad think happened to me?"  
"I took care of that myself," Silver grinned, "Mind control is pretty useful when it comes to convincing someone. All I did was snap my fingers, and he now thinks you rolled down a hill, and got bad injuries from it."

Flash laughed, even though it hurt. "I rolled down a hill?"

"That was Tails' idea." Silver grinned sheepishly.

Flash's smile was suddenly replaced by one of shock. "You," she said.

"What?" Silver asked.

"You… you were there when the building collapsed and my mother died."


	7. So Much More to Lose

Tick… tock…

Would the clock ever get to 4pm? Mollie was anxious to get to Flash's house to see if she'd woken up yet. Tails was exploring the classroom as Mollie's French teacher explained the function of direct object pronouns. _Boring._

One minute left… Mollie watched the teacher, Ms. Cowfield, begging her to tell them to pack away.

"And now, just quickly, I'm going to ask Miss Daydreamer, Mollie Esworth, a question. How, Mollie, would you say 'I look for it'?"

"Um…" Mollie hated speaking in front of the class.

"If you get it right, the class can go now. If you don't, the class has to stay behind for five minutes."

Mollie's stomach churned. "Je le cherche?"

"Correct!" Just then, the bell rung. Ms. Cowfield didn't even get a chance to congratulate her; she and Tails had already raced out of the classroom.

"Your Mum walked for G.U.N, which is a secret organisation that Shadow and Rouge work for. I worked with her once on a mission to collect a chaos emerald. Then, one night, she rang me and said, 'Get to the flat now. I need you.' I asked why, and she said, 'Your future will be falling forty feet from this collapsing block of flats in here minutes.' I was in the city, so I pegged it over there, and saw you falling."

"I saw you. After you slowed me down and before I was surrounded by paramedics. I saw this white figure in the distance with a weird hairdo," said Flash.

"How come you just remembered this?" Silver asked.

"I dunno," Flash shrugged, "I think the way you were looking at me before was similar to your expression when we first saw each other."

"What was that expression?"

"Relief. Relief that I'm still alive."

Gemma took ages, as usual. Toby, Craig, Mollie, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails were all waiting impatiently by the school gates. They did not notice the fifteen year old boy standing by a motorbike with a helmet under his arm.

What seemed like centuries later, Gemma and Amy appeared. She looked pale, like she had seen a ghost.

"G-guys," she said, "One of the girls in my French class passed out and started speaking really weirdly."

"What happened?" asked Mollie, as they hurried along the road.

"Well, she just randomly passed out and then with her eyes closed, started talking. She said "the chosen will pay for their actions. The girl who has lost so much has so much more left to lose.'"

Craig, Toby and Mollie shivered.

"That's Flash," said Craig, "Isn't it?"

Tails solemnly nodded. "And if that prophecy is real, it means she's going to lose more."

"That'll destroy her," Amy whispered.

"We're here," said Mollie miserably. They looked at the pretty little house and wondered how to drop the bombshell."

Flash and Silver were sitting on the sofa in the living room, eating ice cream.

"Hey guys," Toby couldn't even smile, "What's up?"

"Not much." Silver scrutinised Toby's face.

"You guys look like you've been sucking lemons all day," said Flash.

"Well," Amy looked at the others, "We've got bad news. One of the girls was possessed in Gemma's French class and, well…"

Then they told Flash and Silver about the prophecy. Afterwards, there was a long pause. The silence went on forever.

Nobody heard Shadow enter the house. He always lived up to his name when it came to breaking and entering. Standing in the hallway, Shadow heard voices coming from the living room upstairs. The house was quite strange, compared to some other places. Flash's bedroom, and her Dad's, were both on the ground floor along with the kitchen and the conservatory. Upstairs was the living room, a bathroom and a storage room. Shadow crept up the stairs and listened. The voices were coming from the living room. All of a sudden, there was a silence. He paused, but sensed that it wasn't because of him; shock tingled in the air.

Now would be the perfect opportunity.

"I need to speak to Silver. Now," said a quiet and dangerous voice.

Flash paled at the sight of Shadow. Slowly, Silver got up from the couch.

"Okay, but make it quick." He gave Flash a reassuring glance, and left the room with Shadow. The nine of them heard them go down the stairs and out the front door. Then they raced to the window in the living room, which looked out into the front garden.

"What is it, Shadow?" Silver demanded the moment the front door had slammed shut. He folded his arms and gave the hedgehog one of his famous stares.

"The flames of disaster have been spotted orbiting the Earth," said Shadow.

"What? B-but that's impossible! Sonic and Princess Elise blew the flames out when they were the size of a flicker!"  
"Then if all the stuff in the future didn't happen, why didn't you see Blaze again?" Shadow shot back.

Silver was lost for words. He had never thought of that before.

"Because we have reason to believe that Blaze, after absorbing Iblis, sealed herself in an alternate dimension, where time does not exist. Therefore, Sonic and Elise's journey back in time didn't affect her. Now the flames are beginning to get angry after a year in imprisonment, and are forcing their way out of the alternate dimension."

"But... what about Blaze?" said Silver hoarsely.

"She will be destroyed if we don't get there soon."

Silence.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Silver.

"Don't you want to say goodbye to your partner first?" asked Shadow.

"Hang on" said Silver. He focused his hand, and a ripped up piece of paper came floating out of the house before him. Leaning against a rock and taking a pen out of his pocket, Silver began to write.

"What's he doing?" Mollie whispered, as she watched Shadow re-enter the house with a piece of paper in his hand. Silver was pacing the driveway.

All of a sudden, Shadow appeared in the living room doorway.

"Silver wanted me to give this to you," he said, handing Flash the piece of paper. Fearfully, Flash began to read.

FLASH,

I'M WRITING TO TELL YOU THAT I'M GONNA BE AWAY FOR A WHILE. I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG, BUT IT'S GONNA BE A WHILE. THE FLAMES OF DISASTER, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS IBLIS, ARE ORBITING THE EARTH, AND IT'S UP TO ME TO STOP THEM. BLAZE ABSORBED THEM AND SEALED HERSLEF IN ANOTHER DIMENSION. THAT'S HOW SHE DIED. BUT SHE IS THEIR VESSEL, AND THEY MUST HAVE BROKEN OUT OF THE ALTERNATE DIMENSION. SHE'S ALIVE. SHE MUST BE.

WHY ARE YOU NOT COMING WITH ME? BECAUSE YOU'RE A MAGNET FOR TROUBLE. FIRST YOU ABSORB A CHAOS EMERALD. THEN YOU GET KIDNAPPED BY MEPHILES. AND YOU MET ME. WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT YOU REMIND ME TOO MUCH OF MYSELF. IT'S LIKE LOOKING IN A MIRROR.

I'LL SEE YOU AROUND. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

SILVER

The paper floated to the floor. Or in Flash's case, it crashed. The others all crowded round it to read. One by one, they all stared at Flash with concern. She was staring into space, too much of her ripped apart to even feel alive anymore. And when they looked out of the window, Silver and Shadow had gone.

They tried, they really did. That weekend, Gemma organised a bumper day out, just Flash, her and Mollie. First of all, they went to see a movie, meeting p with Toby and Craig at the cinema. It was a cheesy comedy, so sugary sweet that Flash had to run to the toilets to be sick. She, Gemma and Mollie then went to the burger bar, but Flash didn't eat anything. She was deathly pale, and her emerald green eyes were so cold and empty. After that, they went shopping, Flash flinching as they passed any item of clothing that was white. She sat by the pool while Mollie and Gemma went swimming. That night, at Gemma's, Flash was awake long after Gemma closed her eyes, and long before Mollie reopened hers in the morning. She shuffled home, muttering a 'thanks' on the way out. Gemma looked up into the sky and cursed Silver.

The weeks flashed by like pages flickering through a book. Flash wandered around, avoiding everyone. Which was why it was no surprised for them to discover one morning that Flash had gone missing.


End file.
